Mark Zuckerberg Hires Obama Campaign Manager For Charity Organization

David Plouffe was the mastermind behind the historic victory of President Barack Obama when he first ran for office back in 2008. Now, he will be working for Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Patricia Chan on their charity organization, the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative. This might prove fruitful for the couple thanks to Plouffe’s considerable influence among the political elite.

After helping President Obama secure victory, Plouffe basically became one of the biggest links that Silicon Valley had with those inside the political community, The Verge reports. Considering how ambitious the goals of the charity group are, it’s only natural to expect that significant political connections are going to be needed.

Plouffe actually became an Uber asset back in 2014, which is how the cab hailing company managed to push so forcefully and so far into the market as it has been able to do. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick expressed considerable confidence in Plouffe, calling him “a proven field general and strategist” after helping President Obama win.

As to what his role in the organization will be, nothing is clear at this point. It can be speculated that it will have something to do with the kind of shift in the political spectrum that Zuckerberg and his wife want to effect. Plouffe might also have a big part to play in the matter of the organization’s direction, particularly with regards to the Facebook founder’s pledge to donate practically all of his money to charity.

Whatever the case, looking at Zuckerberg’s Facebook post on the matter, it would seem that the billionaire does have a lot of confidence in Plouffe. The former Obama campaign manager’s expertise in building grassroots movements is of particular interest for Zuckerberg.

“He has great experience building movements as part of companies like Uber and as campaign manager for Barack Obama's presidential campaign,” the Facebook founder wrote about Plouffe.